China Population 2013

The current population of the People’s Republic of China is estimated to be approximately 1.354 billion people, which is an increase of about 0.01% from the last record of the population. China is the most populous country in the entire world, even though the population gap with India is growing closer every year. Historically over the last half of a century, though, the population of China has always been greater than the population of India. Based on the total land area and the total population of the country, the population density of the country is about 363.3 people per square mile.

Demographics in China

The largest ethnic group in the People’s Republic of China is the Han Chinese ethnic group, which makes up about 91.6% of the population or almost 1.16 billion people. Other than the Han Chinese, there are 55 unique ethnic minority groups that make up the remainder of the population. The government has ensured through policy that equal treatment is given to these minorities. The official language of the country is Standard Mandarin.

Religion in China

The oldest religion in the People’s Republic of China is Buddhism, which was brought to the country about 2,000 years ago. In fact, it is also the most important religion as it impacts society in many ways. Even if people are not declared Buddhists, many Chinese people have participated in some form of a Buddhist activity. The largest sect of Buddhism in the country is Han Buddhism, which consists of over 8,000 temples in the country. Despite the fact that Confucianism is not an actual religion, it has large importance and influence in the country. Some other important religions in the country are Taoism, Islam, and Christianity. However, Christianity was banned after 1949. This did not stop the believers of Christianity to practice their faith. There are approximately 15 million Catholics in the country. The majority of the Christians that practice their faith reside in the southern portion of China.

China’s Infrastructure

Infrastructure development remains a top priority for China’s government, which has long recognized that a modern economy runs on reliable roads and rails, electricity, and telecommunications. From the late 1990s, 100 million Chinese benefited from power and telecommunications upgrades. Between 2001 and 2004, investment in rural roads grew by a massive 51 percent annually. And in recent years, the government has used substantial infrastructure spending to hedge against flagging economic growth.

China’s leadership has charted equally ambitious plans for the future. Its goal is to bring the entire nation’s urban infrastructure up to the level of infrastructure in a middle-income country, while using increasingly efficient transport logistics to tie the country together.

Languages in China

Standard Chinese (known in China as Putonghua) is the official national spoken language for the mainland. Language laws of China do not apply to either Hong Kong or Macau and hence have different official languages (Cantonese) than the mainland.

China has 56 recognized ethnic groups and they speak a variety of different languages. The languages of China are collectively known as Zhongyu (simplified Chinese: 中语; traditional Chinese: 中語; pinyin: Zhōngyǔ), and their study is considered a distinct academic discipline in China. Zhongyu span eight primary language families, are diverse morphologically and phonetically, and may be mutually unintelligible to each other. The languages most studied and supported by the state include Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang. China has 292 living languages and 1 extinct language (Jurchen) according to Ethnologue.

Sports in China

The most popular sports in the People’s Republic of China are any type of racket sports, specifically table tennis (ping pong) and badminton. China has won the most amounts of gold medals in Badminton and Ping Pong in the world. Another popular and important sport in the country is football (American soccer). The sport has gained increasing popularity over the years, despite a lack of significant success in the international play.

China’s Population Problems

Historical Population of China

Historically over the past half of a century, the only time that the population of the People’s Republic of China has decreased is from the years 1960-1961. Every other year, however, the population has grown. However, near the latter half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the population has begun to slow down its growth.

Year

Population (millions)

1960

667.1

1965

715.2

1970

818.3

1975

916.4

1980

981.2

1985

1,051

1990

1,135

1995

1,205

2000

1,263

2005

1,304

2010

1,338

2011

1,344

Projected Population of China

As noted before, the population of the People’s Republic of China began to slow down its growth near the 21st century. In fact, this trend is expected to continue, as the population will only increase till about 2025. Then by 2030, the population will start to decrease at least for the next 15 years. One cause of this the negative net migration rates over the next 37 years. More people are emigrating than immigrating. Another reason is that the death rates eventually exceed the birth rates. The birth rates will decrease from 11.9 births per 1000 people in 2015 to about 8.7 births per 1000 people in 2050. However, the main reason for the decrease is that that death rates increase from 7.7 deaths per 1000 people in 2015 to about 14.7 deaths per 1000 people in 2050. The death rate nearly doubles in the course of 35 years.